Phantom of the Paradise

There’s something wildly exciting about watching a Brian De Palma movie. Of all the USC gang to emerge from the 1970s – including Spielberg, Lucas and Scorsese – his early films were the most revolutionary and counter-culture connected. But it wasn’t until he gave into his show-off Hitchcock obsessions that audiences began to take notice. After his attention getting thriller Sisters, the director moved on to a long gestating project, Phantom of the Paradise (1974), which was his last real middle finger to Hollywood before embracing the industry with open arms.

Winslow Leach (William Finley) is a sheltered composer who passes along his life’s work to a diminutive but larger-than-life record producer, Swan (Paul Williams), who promptly passes off the material as his own. In an attempt to get revenge, Winslow is horribly disfigured and sabotages the grand opening of Swan’s new musical venue, The Paradise. But in a Faustian twist, he makes a new deal with the devilish producer to complete his work if the finished product is sung by the gifted ingénue Phoenix (Jessica Harper) whose voice becomes an outlet for Winslow’s creative passion.

With words and music by soft-rock celebrity Paul Williams (who also co-stars), Phantom inevitably draws comparisons to The Rocky Horror Picture Show released just a year later. But other than a nostalgic nod to the horror genre, the films take a very different approach, with De Palma shooting more in a concert film style than a true Hollywood musical. The music numbers, which are radio friendly but not in the sing-along fashion of Rocky, spring from a natural stage setting as the characters audition or perform in various eclectic set-ups.

And that unpredictability is Phantom’s biggest draw. Jumping from ‘50s do-wop to soft-rock ballads to Alice Cooper glam-metal, Williams does a great job of repurposing the same song several times over. De Palma shoots everything in his typically grandiose, self-conscious style (360 degree dollies, split-screens and extended one-take POV shots) that builds to a hilarious peak with the Paradise opening night and glam-rocker Beef (Gerrit Graham) making his shocking stage debut.

Unfortunately, the film still has another 30 minutes to go.

Phantom is uniquely entertaining and intentionally off-center. But it’s also like a great album with its share of bad tracks. While De Palma is riffing on classic films and classic rock, the film taps into an energy that’s infectiously quirky. But its tragic ending is a truncated mess of chaotic audience shots and blaring feedback. Graham’s performance is so hilariously inspired that, despite his early exit from the film, audience’s might be chanting for an encore.

There’s no doubt that Scream Factory’s blu-ray collector’s edition deserves to go gold. The hi-def transfer looks every bit as good as fans could have hoped and comes with a full second DVD of extras. De Palma contributes a rather low key 30-minute interview, but the other extras are exuberantly presented, including a new audio commentary with Harper, Graham and others, more filmmaker interviews, alternate takes and deleted footage (the Swan Song logo had to be replaced throughout the film due to a Led Zeppelin lawsuit), trailers, TV spots and a fantastic full-length Making Of accompanied by a Paul Williams sit-down with director Guillermo Del Toro.